"I'm scared.""I know. I am, too."
"When are you coming to visit?""I don't know, Kai. Soon."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"I…"
The sound was muffled. I brought my phone down and looked at the screen to make sure we were still connected.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I have to go now. We're at the hospital.""Okay. I love you. Be strong."
We hung up simultaneously.
This is what we have to live with. This is what life is like when your best friend has cancer and she lives a thousand miles away. When you cannot touch her, or hug her, or hold her hand. You cannot actually see how fragile she is.
Pictures, sure. You can see pictures of her. Her hair, now almost an inch long after it's been growing back. Her ribs, starting to poke out. You can hear her grumbles in the morning over the phone. You can Google chemotherapy. How it works. How they pump poison into her veins.
And you can cry with her. And pray. And cry some more. And she will not get better very quickly at all. So you just cry and cry and cry.
"Is Kai.. Kairi awake yet?" I say into my cell phone, speaking with her mother.
"No, I'm afraid not. I'd wake her, but we just got home about an hour ago and you know how she can't sleep in the car…""Oh. Right. Well, I'll call back in a little while."
I hung up without saying goodbye. Without waiting for goodbye. I couldn't take it. I wanted my best friend in my arms. I wanted her to be healthy. Hell, I'd take cancer if it meant she was healthy.
(A/N: Oh my gods. I just spaced out after the first two parts. I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.)